The waiting game, not the crying game, never not sometimes the same. In this case not the same. I had a fffeeeling, a gut nudge punch inside. Wait for it. Wait all day for it. The rain ends a few hours before daylight that’s not lit up all day, but now dusting a passing glow in flight with fading light.
Heavy rain. Fresh wet everywhere. Massive puddles. Overcast sky with just enough light. All conditions were just right.. One of my absolute favourite times to shoot is right after rain. I like the way the world looks freshly washed with water, connecting with who I am, running deep in me.
The three photos above were shot in a black asphalt parking lot. Fresh from a massive rainstorm all day crevice filling every little divot. Old pavement showing small stones of differing colours, scattered with bits of matter. The unintentional dystopian feeling that I later saw really appealed to me.
I see many aspects about photos I take later on, way after the fact. When I’m shooting, the camera and I become one. All that exists is a fluid stream of moment to moment to moment, a complete sensory experience that defies descriptions I attempt to apply. Thinking is not a thing. There is only being. Everything is fluid, connected, and moving together in a natural state. Think of a river. Like that.
Moved on to a major city intersection. Dark gray granite blocks, all textured up, dressed decadently with water gloss got me. Busy to and fro frolic of people, less so than usual. This is a favourite spot where I camera haunt.
It’s all quiet…
He’s here. He’s waiting.
He’s gone. He left. Red light reflect.
Extreme tonal contrasts. Reflections. Raking angles. Abstract distortions. Silhouettes. Partial people play. Forms appearing and dissolving in an eye blink. Almost black and white in bleached colour with a reflected red touch from traffic lights. Instant intoxication encompasses me.
Wander walking over granite glistening darkly, away across another busy intersection. I spot a gigantic puddle reflecting a moneyed old building blotted out by a towering tree all wavy-like in wind water ripples.
Changed perception angle. Zoomed in to capture a reflection of reflections. A trick within a trick. The building is a grid mirror wall on the other side of the street, abstracting reflections of buildings on both street sides.
A flash of gray and black buzzes by in the lower left corner just as I hit the button. A pigeon timed frame entry focused on the puddle pool. Blurred bird bounty adding unexpected gray black brushstrokes.
I think I hear someone right behind me. It’s this guy walking by lost to his black magic mirror, oblivious to me catching reflection shots of his walk. Sometimes I’ll capture a series of shots in sequence, a short story show of stills like this.
I’m wondering if you’ll indulge me with what you might see. Some sight shot, spot the dog in among the photos in this post. The dog has spots.
Can you spot the dog?
Last shot of the shoot fading into gray light reflecting with a white dance of led car brights, to all, a good night.
All photos taken by Nine with a Pentax digital 35mm camera.
